Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Cybercrime

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many organisations are certified under the Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus schemes.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: At the end of August 2021, 75,237 Cyber Essentials certificates had been awarded to organisations in the UK. Of these, 61,481 certificates were awarded at Cyber Essentials level and 13,756 were awarded at Cyber Essentials Plus level.

Mobile Phones: Fees and Charges

Lord Bowness: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers byBaroness Barran on 13 February (HL605) and 19 July (HL1998), what discussions they have had with the mobile network operators Three, EE and Vodafone about the reintroduction of roaming charges for UK customers in the EU; and what steps they will take to prevent the reintroduction of these charges.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Ministers and officials have regular discussions with senior representatives of mobile operators on a range of issues, including on the issue of mobile roaming, and HM Government will continue to promote a competitive marketplace that serves the interests of consumers.

Department for Transport

Freight

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money is allocated in the current financial year to the Mode Shift Revenue Support Grant; and what plans they have, if any, to increase this allocation in view of the benefit of reducing demand for lorry drivers and the associated reduction in pollution.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government is providing £20m through its mode shift freight grant schemes in 2021/22 to support rail and water freight services on routes where they deliver environmental benefits over road haulage but are more expensive to operate. The Government is supportive of modal shift of freight from road to rail wherever possible and is exploring the potential to increase rail freight capacity on the rail network to help reduce carbon emissions from the freight sector.

A303: Stonehenge

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government what area of ground would need be excavated within the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage site for the construction of the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down dual carriageway and tunnel, should planning consent be granted by the Secretary of State.

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government what area of Crown land would need to be (1) acquired, and (2) compulsorily purchased, within the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage site to enable the construction and operation of the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down dual carriageway and tunnel, should planning consent be granted by the Secretary of State; what proportion of the land to be acquired was gifted to the nation by Sir Cecil Chubb; and what would be the terms ofany (a) acquisition, or (b) compulsory purchase.

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hectares of National Trust land within the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage site would need to be (1) acquired, and (2) compulsorily purchased, to enable the construction and operation of the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down dual carriageway and tunnel, should planning consent be granted by the Secretary of State; what proportion of the land to be acquired has been declared inalienable; and what would be the terms of any(a) acquisition, or (b) compulsory purchase.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The total area of ground that would need to be excavated for the construction of the A303 dual carriageway and Tunnel within the World Heritage site is approximately 8.8 hectares. The area of Crown land identified within the World Heritage Site to be permanently acquired to enable the construction and operation of the A303 dual carriageway and tunnel is approximately 4,220 square metres. This is the land beneath the existing A303, which is unregistered and (in accordance with the ad medium filum rule) ownership has been attributed to the adjacent parties to the halfway point of the road. The adjacent landowner on the north side of the road is the land parcel that was gifted to the nation by Sir Cecil Chubb. During inquiries to identify the legal entities with an interest in this land, it was identified that the land gifted by Sir Cecil Chubb is held in the name of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. As such the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is assumed to hold an interest in the subsoil beneath the A303 up to its half width by virtue of the ad medium filum rule. This is considered to be Crown land. No land gifted by Sir Cecil Chubb is included within the land to be acquired for the Development Consent Order. Within the World Heritage Site, there is approximately 52.83 hectares of land owned by The National Trust that would need to be acquired or compulsory purchased. Of this 6.3 hectares are subject to outright acquisition, and 46.53 hectares are subject to acquisition at subsoil level for the construction of the bored tunnel with rights above. Of this land, 41.62 hectares has been declared as inalienable, 1.75 hectares subject to outright acquisition, and 39.87 hectares subject to subsoil acquisition.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Negligence

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bethell on 29 July (HL2215), how many of the 34 clinical negligence claims taken to trial in2020/21 went to (1) the High Court, or (2) the County Courts.

Lord Kamall: NHS Resolution has advised that of the 34 clinical negligence claims taken to trial in 2020/21, 12 went to higher courts, including the High Court and 22 went to County Courts.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

The Earl of Shrewsbury: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Antivirals Taskforce has taken to identify suitable treatments for patients who have been exposed to COVID-19.

The Earl of Shrewsbury: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications for product assessment the Antivirals Taskforce has received.

Lord Kamall: The Antivirals Taskforce proactively develops a pipeline of priority antiviral candidates to be considered for research and procurement in the United Kingdom. The Taskforce monitors antiviral candidates at all stage of development, working collaboratively with stakeholders to identify the most promising products. In addition, the Antivirals Taskforce is contacted by a wide range of companies, academics and patients to discuss the potential suitability of antiviral products. To date, 15 companies have submitted a proposal to the Taskforce to provide more information on their product.

NHS: Drugs

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the delivery of drugs (1) to the NHS, and (2) to patients, of the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK.

Lord Kamall: We are not currently seeing the shortage of Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers in the United Kingdom impact the delivery of medicines nor are we seeing it impact the delivery of flu vaccinations. The majority of deliveries are still being made to schedule with on-time delivery performance currently at 98%. However, the issue has been raised by a growing number of suppliers, including National Health Service trusts.The number of National Supply Disruption Responses relating to medicine shortages in August 2021 is similar to the level in March 2021. This has remained stable and is unrelated to HGV driver shortages. Whilst no formal assessment has been made, we are reviewing broad trends are obtained through the Department’s freight desk, through organisations such as NHS Supply Chain, industry and NHS trusts. The Government’s Express Freight Service remains available to support suppliers if their existing supply chains are disrupted.The Government is aware of concerns and are taking steps to support businesses and stakeholders, including streamlining the process for new HGV drivers, increasing the number of driving tests, improved pay, working conditions and diversity.

Social Services: Finance

Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government from what date the spendingon care will count towards the £86,000 proposed cap.

Lord Kamall: The proposed cap will begin to take effect from October 2023. To prepare for the implementation of the new system, local government will assess those who have eligible needs.

Social Services: Finance

Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their revised means test proposed in the new social care policy will contribute to hotel costs, or only to care costs.

Lord Kamall: To ensure that the new system maintains fairness between people receiving domiciliary care and those receiving residential care, individuals will still be responsible for daily living costs, including accommodation costs. For those unable to cover the costs themselves, personal care costs and daily living costs will be means tested. Additionally, people who fall within the means test are guaranteed to retain a personal expenses allowance after daily living costs have been deducted.

Social Services: Finance

Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to public funds of their proposed cap on social care costs to be in (1) 2023–24, (2) 2024–25, and (3) 2029–30.

Lord Kamall: We committed to ensuring local authorities have access to sustainable funding for core budgets at the forthcoming Spending Review. A full impact assessment will be published in due course, including an outline of the predicted costs to public funds of the cap on social care costs.

Coronavirus: Screening

Lord Tyrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the direct cost of an at-home PCR test conducted by NHS Test and Trace.

Lord Kamall: We are unable to provide the direct cost of NHS Test and Trace polymerase chain reaction tests as this information is commercially sensitive.

Influenza: Vaccination

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the reported delays in this year's flu vaccination programme.

Lord Kamall: Due to the nature of the production of the flu vaccine, short delays in production, manufacturing and delivery are common and as a result, contingency is built into supply timetables. One manufacturer, Seqirus, reported a delay of one to two weeks as a result of logistical issues. The Department is working closely with Seqirus and other vaccine manufacturers to assess the impact of any delays on the delivery of flu vaccinations.

Travel: Coronavirus

Lord Tyrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total number of PCR tests conducted for the purposes of facilitating international travel in each month of 2021; and of these, how many were conducted by NHS Test and Trace.

Lord Kamall: Data on the number of polymerase chain reaction tests for international travel is not held in the format requested.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Palm Oil: Production

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their analysis of the impact ofpalm-oil production on (1) indigenous small farmers, (2) global climate, (3) food manufacturing, and (4) consumer diets and health.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: To inform our policies on palm oil, the Government draws on the analysis of experts and NGOs, as well as working with the UK roundtable on sustainable palm oil, and the work of certification schemes like Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. In addition, we utilise government programming like Partnerships for Forests and the independent Global Resource Initiative to help inform policies on palm oil and on supply chains more widely. This analysis has indicated that palm oil can be associated with negative environmental impacts, such as deforestation, land conversion and associated climate impacts. However, it also shows that oil palm is a very efficient crop, producing more oil per hectare than other vegetable oil crops. Substitution with other oils (e.g. soybean, rapeseed, sunflower), which typically require significantly more land to produce, may lead to greater deforestation as more land is converted to agricultural use. More than 3 million smallholder farmers make a living from palm oil, providing 40% of total production, and palm oil is important for food security in many countries Certifiably sustainable palm oil increases traceability and transparency through the supply chain, supporting manufacturers and retail to make more informed decisions about their sourcing, and allowing them to source from producers with a lower environmental footprint. The UK’s Partnership for Forests programme includes support to develop new standards for the sustainable production of palm oil, and support to test new ways of growing oil palm that brings greater benefits to local communities and protects forests. Finally, palm oil is an important part of food production globally. We want the entire supply chain to help to deliver healthier food and encourage healthy eating. To that end, our Food Strategy White Paper will build on existing policy work such as that developed under the Agriculture Act, and the obesity strategy, to help ensure our food system delivers healthy and affordable food for all people and is built upon a resilient and sustainable agriculture sector.